Monday, June 24, 2013

The Land of Oz

It was my esteemed pleasure to be able to spend the better part of this past Thursday and Friday - collaborating with one of my most favorite, fine art nude portrait photographers: 24 year old Osmyn Oree (affectionately known by his nearest and dearest as, "Oz").

Mere minutes after getting settled into my hotel room, Osmyn pulled into the parking lot, hopped out of his car, and greeted me with a hug that made me feel as if we'd been close friends for always and ever - despite the fact that up until that point, we'd only ever communicated via text and email, and even that's only been for the last several months.

Almost immediately following our official, face-to-face introduction to one another - the two of us set out to explore Osmyn's hometown, with the sole purpose in mind of scouting out locations where we could shoot...and after driving around for maybe about an hour or so, we decided to make the most of our brief time together, by getting started taking pictures just a little bit ahead of schedule - at a secluded, almost jungle-like nature preserve, smack dab in the middle of the bustling Pennsylvania town.

Right away it was evident that Osmyn and I were forming an effortlessly symbiotic photographer/model relationship. Like seriously - working with him was an absolute joy! His professionalism, his artistic vision, and his laid-back demeanor - far exceeded that which I'd imagined, and believe me when I tell you that I had extremely high hopes going in.

Anyway, by the time Osmyn and I wrapped our first shoot together, we were both filthy, exhausted, and covered in welts from bug bites and nettle stings (Nettle! Try walking through that hateful shit completely naked once, why don't you - yow) Nevertheless, we were so excited about all that we'd accomplished on our first day together, and even more stoked that we still had a whole nother (evenlonger) day to shoot - that none of the bad stuff even mattered...at all!

After Osmyn dropped me back off at my hotel room, I decided I oughtta stage some self-portraits (for the first time in nearly a month!) before I completely conked out for the night (which was imminent). Luckily, there wasn't anybody else staying on my side of the building - so I decided to don my new, way-too-small-child-sized ballet tutu, while trying to take advantage of the fleeting and brilliant, late evening sunlight...and dontcha know...literally as soon as I set my camera to take the first shot - 4 new hotel guests pulled their cars up in the parking lot. Yay.

Needless to say, their presence kinda spoiled my mood, and my enthusiasm. I did manage to somehow plod on though, snapping uninteresting frame after snore-worthy frame. It just wasn't that much fun with a bunch of bystanders gawking, and asking me to "Turn around!" (cuz my ass was fully hanging out of that teensy weensy tiny tutu).

No biggie though...I tucked myself in at 8 o'clock that night (I was pooped, yo!), knowing that I still had another full day left to shoot myself (and be shot) - in the wonderful land of Oz Oree...

2 comments:

You were absolutely everything i expected you to be and more!!! :) had a spectacular time with you, People talk about ups and downs when working with other people. THERE WERE NONE WITH YOU! just an amazing collaboration and sooo much fun working with you. Please come back anytime so we can do it all over again! :) btw awesome pics as well cannot wait to see the others!!!